Member-only story
Wildwood Ophelia
Wander with caution.
Ophelia grew up at the very edge of the forest, and her bedtime stories were filled with warnings of witches and goblins and hungry wolves.
“See how the shadows twist and turn?” her mother would ask, pointing past the gauzy curtains to the trees beyond the window. “You’ll get lost for sure if you ever go past the boundary.”
Every day on her walk to the town schoolhouse, she would skip past the lines of trees. Sometimes she would hear a bird’s call and whistle back, just to see what would happen. Her mother would have told her a trickster would turn from bird to man and snatch her away into the forest’s depths. But Ophelia was the type of girl who could be warned but never dissuaded.
When she was old enough to turn boys’ heads, Ophelia would test every boy by seeing how far they would venture into the forest for her. She would lead them by the hand to the boundary and push them gently as if it were a childish game.
“I’ll give you a kiss if you come back,” she would promise in the way of girls who were pretty and cruel alike.
Every single one returned to claim their prizes.
Rumors spread through the town, as they did.
Ophelia’s mother wasn’t happy when she found out.
